Of mortals, immortals and those in between
by Unniekurn
Summary: Victoria accidentally ends up in the underworld. She gets to know the Gods and their secrets, but her future is unsure since the Gods want to keep their existence secret.
1. Hades and the Hades

**Hi! Please note that English is not my first language, so if you find any mistakes, please let me know. You don't have to know anything about Greek mythology for this story, but it might be useful sometimes. If you don't understand anything, ask me and I'll change it or just ask Wikipedia. I wrote all the mythological names like they were written by the ancient Greeks, so please know that those aren't spelling mistakes. Please don't get offended by the things I've written about religion, just remember this is all fiction and I'm not trying to convince you that what I write is true. Thanks for reading, and enjoy!**

I looked at the stars as I walked down the street. Another useless night of another useless life. Once again, I wondered if I was doing the right thing. I actually wasn't doing anything at all, but did I need to do something? Nobody knew.

I realised that I had reached a part of the city that I didn't recognise. It wasn't really that weird, however, because the only parts I really knew were the city centre and the campus. This part of the city looked rather poor, and it was deserted. I already liked it a lot.

The first sign of life appeared after a couple of minutes. A petrol station. The neon lamps had to be replaced, as one of the letters had stopped working, and the stripes the lamps formed were flickering. The building was brown with some stripes in a filthy shade of orange, but, judging from the petrol station's logo, it used to be red and yellow.

Next to the entrance to petrol station's shop were two smoking boys, who made me realise that I'd gone through my supply of cigarettes. I walked to the door, and as I expected, they started screaming vulgar things to me. I sighed. 'Fuck off,' I shouted and showed them the prettiest of all my fingers. They started laughing, but I ignored them and entered the building.

The inside of the shop looked just as poor as the outside. Some of the tiles on the ground were shattered, and it smelled like pee. It reminded me of the fact that I needed to pee as well. I quickly bought some cigarettes, and asked if there were toilets. The lady behind the till, a middle-aged lady who was wearing a thick layer of make-up and horrible fake nails, nodded and pointed at a door.

I took a deep breath before going in. I knew the smell would be even worse inside. I opened the door, and a horrible smell greeted me. The lights were flickering inside as well. I opened the first door, and immediately closed it, for the smell was too horrible to bear. The second toilet had no toilet seat, so I chose for the third and last one, which had half a seat.

The only problem was that there was no toilet paper. There was a fourth door, which had no lock like the others, which made me assume that there would be brooms and buckets and all those things inside. I hoped that there would be toilet paper as well.

But the door was locked. I didn't want to go back to the lady, because I preferred to avoid contact at any time. So I grabbed my credit card and opened the door like they did in every movie ever. And to my surprise, it worked.

It was dark inside, so I decided to carefully feel if I could find anything to wipe my behind with. I sighed, wishing I had stayed in the student residence, and stepped forward.

But there was no floor.

I fell down, god knows how long it took, and I was unable to scream because the lack of floor had surprised me so much. And then the pain came. I felt like I had broken all my bones.

The floor I was lying on was cold and uneven, like I was lying on a big rock. I lay there for a long time, until I had gained enough power to stand up. It was still dark, so I had no idea where I was. I could only use my fingers to see. The walls felt like the ground: cold and uneven. It was rather cold everywhere, actually. A cave under a petrol station? I didn't know. But I knew that I wasn't comfortable at all.

I walked for a while, until I noticed a tiny bit of light. I didn't know if that was a good or a bad thing in an underground cave, but staying here didn't seem too ideal as well. Suddenly, I heard some voices. I had no idea what language they were talking in. It sounded like Russian, but a little softer.

One of the ones talking sounded like a grown-up man, the other like a young woman. I came closer, until they were probably just a few steps away from me. I could see everything now. I was indeed in something that looked like a cave, but the corridor through which I had walked didn't seem like it was carved out by nature. I took a deep breath, and prepared to look around the corner of the corridor to see what was going on.

I saw a room that looked big and expensive, but before I could see who were talking, I felt a hand grabbing my throat, and another one was placed in front of my mouth. My heart skipped a beat, and I realised that this could be the last moment of my life. But nothing happened. No gun against my head, no knife in my back, not poison in my mouth. Just a lot of force.

After I had recovered from the surprise and fear, I tried to escape from the man's hold, but he was way too strong. When I tried to bite his hand, he chuckled softly and tightened the grip of the hand that was around my throat. It was useless. Goodbye, life. Thanks for ruining yourself for me.

After the voices had stopped talking, we heard a loud pop. The figure behind me took a breath, but didn't do anything. We stood there for another minute, when he suddenly stepped forward, dragging me with him, and when we entered the big room, he pushed me on the ground, causing all the air in my lungs to flee. So I just lay there, gasping like a fish out of water.

The woman I had heard before screamed something to the man who had held me. He said something back, in the same language they were speaking before. I took a deep breath and pushed myself up. I looked around. We were indeed in a big room, and everything I saw was made out of shiny black marble. I looked at the people who were standing in front of me.

I was shocked to find out that these persons were abnormally large. They weren't fat, extremely tall or disproportionate; they just looked like enlarged humans. The man who had pushed me on the ground was muscular and rather creepy. He had long, black hair, dark eyes and he wore a purple sort-of dress. The woman, who was enormous as well, was pretty and looked rather young. I had expected her to be some kind of Eastern-European woman with long, dark hair, a big nose and high heels. But she had a sweet-looking face, long, wavy ginger hair and beautiful green eyes.

I had no idea who or what they were, but they were certainly not normal. The muscular man asked me something, but I didn't understand it. The red-haired woman said something, and he nodded. 'Who are you?' he asked. I was surprised that he spoke English without even a trace of an accent. I wondered if I should give my real name, and as I realised that was a terrible idea, I tried to come up with a fake name.

He said something to the woman, and she nodded this time. 'Wer bist du?' he asked. I knew that was German, but before I could say something, he started talking in every possible language. 'Qui es-tu? Wie ben jij? Qui estis?' 'Stop!' I said. 'I understood you. My name is Jenna. Jenna Garfield,' I said, thinking about a girl who used to live next to me, who owned a big, red cat.

'Don't you lie to me,' he said. 'I'm not lying!' I said, trying to sound like I was speaking the truth. 'Come on, girl, who are you?' he asked. 'I could ask you the same question!' I shouted without thinking. 'I am Hades, ruler of the underworld!' he said and smiled.

I started laughing. A crazy fool wouldn't be able to hurt me. 'What's so funny?' he asked. I looked at him. 'Hades? Really? So you must be Persephone,' I said to the woman. 'That's right, I am,' she said, as well without an accent. I was surprised for a second, but then I started laughing even harder. 'You're mad,' I said and stood up. 'Now show me the exit.'

'The exit?' "Hades" asked. He started laughing. 'You're not going away, girl. Nobody can know that we are here.' 'I won't tell anyone,' I said. 'Why would I? They wouldn't believe me. Now bring me to the exit,' I said. He started laughing again. 'Fine, then I'll go alone,' I said and started walking towards the corridor where I had fallen.

Behind me, the man snapped his fingers, and I immediately felt ropes wrapping around my body. I fell on the ground again. 'Would a mad man be able to do this?' the mad man asked. 'Yes,' I said, trying to sound convincing and thinking about a logical explanation for the ropes that had appeared out of the blue. I tried to turn around, but I couldn't.

The man snapped his fingers again, and I felt that I started floating. Moments later, I was floating upright in the air, my feet just above the ground. Maybe he wasn't just a harmless freak after all. 'Who's laughing now?' he asked. He moved his hand, and I fell on the ground for the fourth time in less than half an hour.

'Hades, come on. Be nice to our guest,' the woman said. 'Perse, she can't stay here! You know that!' 'But she can't go back to the human world, can she? So, until then, you'll be our guest,' she said. Great. "Hades" snapped his fingers again, and the next second I was sitting upright, with my back against the wall.

'You still don't believe me?' he asked. 'No,' I said. I didn't comprehend what was going on, but he couldn't possibly be Hades. 'How can I make you believe that I'm Hades?' he asked. 'You never will,' I said. He sighed. 'Fine. Your way then.' He snapped his finger once more, and the ropes around me disappeared. 'But don't try to get away. Perse, keep an eye on her.'

The red-haired woman crouched down next to me. 'Sorry for that. We don't get strangers here often. Tell me, what's your name?' she said. 'Victoria,' I said, as always without thinking. 'Victoria,' she repeated and smiled. 'Welcome to the Hades, Victoria!'

I just sat there, not knowing what to do. "Hades" entered the room again, and he started talking to Persephone. They started talking again in the language I didn't recognise. Suddenly, the big man stopped and looked at me. 'Do you understand what we're saying?' I shook my head. I saw he was getting angry, and suddenly he shouted something, looking at me. The woman got angry as well, and walked over to me and stood there as some sort of shield. The man sighed, which made the woman smile and kissed him on the nose. The man said one last thing and left the room.

'What's going on?' I asked. 'He wants to kill you,' she said, like it was nothing. Even though I had never really liked life that much, this news came as a shock. 'But I won't let him throw you into the Styx. You're our guest, and he doesn't have the right to kill you. He'll have to tell his brother, our king Zeus, and he'll decide what to do with you. But he doesn't want him to know,' she continued, 'because he doesn't want him to get mad at him. Zeus' had always told him to change the entrance to the Hades every day, like he does, but Hades hasn't done that because it has never brought him trouble yet. But now it has,' she said and sighed. 'But that doesn't matter now. Do you want to have dinner with us?' I shook my head. 'Come on, you can't just sit here forever,' she said. I sighed. 'Fine then,' I muttered. She helped me get up and she brought me to another room, just as big and pretty as the previous one.

I didn't say anything while we were eating. I realised that they were part of some sort of gang, and that they chose the names of Gods as code names. Zeus was probably the leader, and Styx was probably some sort of poison that would kill anyone who was thrown into it. But that didn't explain the things that happened when the tall man snapped his fingers, or why they were abnormally large.

'Do you want some wine, Victoria?' the man asked. I was surprised by how nice he was suddenly acting. I suddenly wondered why I was acting so aloof. Why would I blame them for not letting me go back? It was not like my world was very pleasant to be in. I had the chance to party with some potential Greek gods! 'Victoria?' the man asked. 'Hell yes,' I answered and smiled.

'So,' I said after a few fancy goblets of wine, 'you're the king of the underworld?' 'I am,' he said proudly. 'But, do people like me go to the underworld too?' I didn't care that I probably seemed like gullible little child. I had one of my I-just-don't-care-anymore-moods. 'If they are buried with a coin in their mouths. And if they believed in and honoured us, the Greek gods. And if they believe in our Roman or Etruscan versions, they can enter as well. But that is extraordinarily rare these days.'

'But the other gods, they just don't exist?' 'Nope. They're just made up, usually by guys who are a little batty. They were all nice guys, however. Jesus, Mohammed, they were amazing. Very nice, and they've inspired a lot of people to be as good as they were. But they were just a little batty. God, Allah, Yahweh, they're all made up. We have told the people who we were, we told our stories. God hasn't told any stories, because he simply doesn't exist. All of his stories are made up. Some of our stories have been made up or exaggerated as time passed, but we are the only ones who exist. The others are, well, just bullshit.'

I started laughing. Did I have to believe this? I never believed in a god, but the existence of the Greek gods seemed even more surreal to me. 'But what happens to everyone who doesn't believe in the gods? Or the people who don't have a coin or something with them?' I asked.

'We, the gods, have existed since the beginning of human life. The Hades, however, hasn't always existed. Before we told the human-beings about our existence, and before we made up the rule that you could cross the Styx with a golden coin, the underworld was just an enormous unused space. The dead would just dive into the Styx, and their souls would just float in the river forever. It was after the moment we told the first Greeks we existed, that I finally got to use my land. The Romans, and all the other people who had different gods who were very similar to us, like the Etruscans, were allowed to go into the underworld as well. But then, the Jews came, and later the Christians and the Muslims and a lot of others. The ones who didn't know anything about us were allowed to dive into the Styx as well, but we kept the ones who had chosen not to believe in us on the river's bank. The souls who touched the river, felt an unbearable pain. We needed to do that so they wouldn't dive into the Styx and reach the state of eternal peace. We wanted them to suffer for not believing us, by consciously not knowing what to do and being bored. Some of them, who realised they had reached the river Styx, tried to swim across, ignoring the pain, to reach the judges, hoping that they would believe they had always believed in the gods. But the river sucks anyone who tries to cross it, into it. We made sure the people on the bank couldn't see the other souls, so they couldn't see what happened to those who jumped into the river to reach the opposite bank. That's how we kept the "heretics" out. But after a while, way too many people were on the bank, and the day that nobody could die anymore because the Styx's bank was too full, came closer. It was then, we decided to just throw all of them into the Styx. So that's what happens to most of the people who die nowadays. They go into the Styx, and their souls remain forever. They just don't feel anything anymore.'

'Wow,' I said. 'That is weird.' The man nodded and suddenly started laughing. 'Have you ever heard of the emperor Constantine? He, as many, less famous, others, was baptized on his deathbed. You should have seen his face when he realised he had made an enormous mistake! That was in the time the people had to stay on the bank, which was terribly boring. And all those suicide terrorists today, those stupid extremists, they thought they would get some virgins and eternal glory if they flew their plane through those buildings. I have kicked those pigs into the Styx myself, oh boy, I don't think I ever laughed that hard. I have considered sending all those extremist to Tartaros, but, and I find it terribly sad, I had to be consistent.'

'Did the Greeks or Romans have extremists as well?' I asked. 'Not that much, but there were some twisted figures who killed everyone, thinking they were so great.' 'And what did you give them?' I asked. 'Well, I didn't give them anything, but the three Judges of the Underworld sent them all to Tartaros. No, we don't accept people acting that stupid.'

'Why don't you just kill them right away?' I asked. He started laughing. 'It doesn't work like that, sadly. Not anymore. I have killed few people in my "life". I needed Zeus' permission or order, and I didn't get that often. Nowadays, we don't interfere with the human world anymore, so I don't kill people anymore. I don't even have the right to send them where they belong, actually. But it would be way too much work. I think being in charge of the underworld is enough.' I nodded.

'I think we should go to bed,' Persephone said. I had one more question, but I felt like it would be rude to ask it now, so I just nodded. 'You have a question,' the long man asked. 'Well, yes, actually,' I said. Nothing surprised me anymore, even him reading my mind didn't. 'I still don't get how I came here.'

'The underworld, as well as Olympus and Poseidon's territory, is accessible for humans, but the entrances are usually well hidden. Zeus changes the entrance daily, and Poseidon changes it quite often as well, but I'm a bit lazy. It has never been a problem, until today. I guess I've become rather negligent with choosing the entrances, because this one was rather easy to find. It was nearly obvious, if you think about it,' he said.

'What do you mean?' I asked. 'Well, what did the building in which the entrance was look like?' he responded. 'A nearly desolated petrol station, I guess.' 'It was, in fact, a nearly desolated petrol station. But what did you see on the outside?' 'Crappy houses, horrible-looking cars, some non-working neon lights-' 'Exactly!' the long man exclaimed. 'And what were those lights supposed to say?' 'I thought for a moment, and then I remembered the name. 'The name of the petrol station's company, Shell,' I said. 'What's so weird about a Shell-station?' 'One of the lights wasn't working, was it? One of the letters wasn't readable.' I nodded. 'So, what did it say?' At first, I didn't know what he meant, but then I realised it. I started laughing. 'Hell. It said hell. '

My host started laughing. 'Exactly. The S wasn't working. It spelled Hell. And that is where we are now.' 'Clever,' I said. 'Very, very, clever. And indeed a little stupid, if I may say so.'

Persephone brought me to my room. Except for the bed, everything was made out of black marble. I lay down, but I wasn't able to sleep. Too many thoughts were racing through my head. Could it be true? Could I really be in the Hades? Or was it just a dream? Would I wake up tomorrow, not even remembering my odd dream, and prepare to go to college? I realised that I would find out tomorrow, and that I needed to sleep now. And after a long time of rolling around, I finally managed.

 **If you ever find a picture of a young woman with dark hair who doesn't wear too much make-up, preferably hooded or with hair covering some of her face, please let me know. I'm searching for a picture that's relevant for the complete story and not the first chapter. Thank you so much, and thanks for reading!**


	2. A day in Hell

**Hi! The next chapter has arrived :) I have nothing more to say, so I'll just say this: Enjoy!**

I didn't wake up in my own bed, and from that moment on, I realised that it was indeed true. Everything had been true. I was currently in the underworld, in Hades's palace, together with his wife Persephone. And I was their guest, something for which I'd probably have to die.

I got dressed and decided to leave my room. I had no idea where to go, but I reckoned it couldn't be that hard. But when I left my room, I already felt like I was lost. I didn't know whether to turn left or right, but after hesitating for a long time I turned right, because I knew that the Romans saw left as an evil side. But soon, the marble walls of the corridor turned into rock. I turned around, and after quite a long search, I reached the room where we had had dinner.

Hades and Persephone were already eating. I immediately noticed that they suddenly were way smaller than they were yesterday, but I decided not to mention it, because for some reason it seemed rather rude. 'Morning,' I said and sat down. 'Morning,' Persephone said, and Hades mumbled something because his mouth was full of bread.

After my mind had finally awoken as well, I realised something odd. 'Excuse me, but why do you eat? I mean, you're immortal, so I reckon you don't need to eat,' I said. 'True,' said Hades. 'But we're very human-like, except we're immortal and some other things. And that's why we like to do human things. And eating is just a pleasant occupation, don't you think?' I nodded and smiled.

'So you don't get fat or skinny when you eat too much or too little?' Hades shook his head. 'But as you might know, we can change our appearances. That's why we are short today. We felt like that would be a little nicer and less frightening towards our guest,' he said and grinned.

'I actually don't look like this in real life,' Hades said. He closed his eyes, and a flash of bright light made me close my eyes. When I opened them, I saw a rather old man with black curls and a beard sitting where Hades sat. 'This is what I actually look like. When I go to heaven, I change my appearance back to this, but here, I always look like this. Otherwise Persephone would have to put up with, well, this,' Hades said, gesturing at his appearance, 'and I reckoned that my other look is slightly more appealing.'

'How utterly convenient,' I said and laughed. 'But that's not the only thing I can do. Watch this!' he said enthusiastically, and after a bright flash, a black horse was standing behind his chair. The animal neighed and pranced, but instead of going back to his four-leg position, it rested on his last two legs and he started walking around. It looked hilarious, and I started laughing uncontrollably.

Someone who was probably a room away from us suddenly shouted something in the language I had heard before. Persephone quickly pushed me under the table and gestured that I had to be silent. She shouted something back, which I couldn't understand as well. Persephone quickly transformed into the longer version of herself, and then the man whose voice we had heard, came into the room.

He was long, with black hair, a little bun on the back of his head, a pointy beard and a hat. I realised something, and looked at his feet. And as I had expected, I saw a pair of winged shoes. Hermes. He looked rather surprised when he saw the horse, and asked something. Hades transformed back into his true, bearded self and started laughing.

The three had a conversation, which I obviously couldn't understand, and then the long man disappeared with a loud pop. I sat down again on my chair, and looked at Hades and Persephone. They simultaneously transformed into the versions of them that I had seen this morning. Hades looked at me and started laughing.

'What did he say, if I may ask?' I said, trying to hold in my laugh. 'He asked why I was looking like that, and I said I was thinking about horsemeat so much, that I accidentally transformed into a horse,' Hades said and he started laughing uncontrollably.

'By the way, was that Hermes?' I asked. Persephone nodded. 'He came to tell us that I need to return to my mother in heaven soon. He said the exact same thing yesterday. My mother just doesn't have too much patience.' I immediately realised that in my world, it was nearly spring, which meant that the myth about the seasons was true.

'Will there be an eternal winter if you don't return to heaven?' I asked. Persephone shook her head. 'There will be a war between the Gods of mount Olympus and us here, because my mother will completely lose her mind if I don't come back, but we don't control the seasons. We don't control any natural process, actually. We don't create all humans, we aren't in control of natural disasters. However, we could create humans, natural disasters and seasons. If we wanted. But we haven't gotten involved with nature since everyone stopped believing in us. When people did believe in us, we sometimes did. Poseidon created earthquakes and floods, my mother, Demeter, sometimes ruined crops, Apollo created epidemics, Nike provided victories and so on. But we don't do that anymore. We do come to earth sometimes, but that's just for fun. We've all decided that, if we go to earth, we won't do anything that'll change things drastically.'

'But, is it possible that I've ever met a god, then?' I doubtfully asked. 'Yes!' Hades said. 'One of us might have sat right next to you on the bus! It is even possible that we've met before, who knows?' I grinned, but inside, I was extremely confused.

'Victoria,' Persephone said after we had finished dinner, 'how do you feel about changing into something underworld-worthier?' 'Great idea,' I said. 'I'd like to see how that will turn out.'

About fifteen minutes later, I was sitting in front of a dressing table, of course made out of black marble. I realised, once again, how weird it was that I really was in the underworld, with a goddess who was currently putting up my hair into a weird bun.

'Persephone?' I asked while she was bringing my hair to perfection. 'Is it true that you have been abducted by Hades? Because you seem very happy here, but I always thought that you were abducted and that you were some sort of prisoner of his.' Persephone started laughing. 'That's what I want everyone to believe. But I actually wanted to go with him. My mother always treated me like a little princess, perfect in every way, cute and princessy, but I just wasn't like that. I never showed my mother that, however. When I met Hades, I immediately liked him because of his imperfect way of being. After a few encounters, I begged him to take me with him to the Hades and marry me. Of course none of the gods came to our wedding, but I liked it a lot. And I still act like I'm very to come home when I go back to my mother in spring. I am always happy to see her, I really am, but I'd rather spend some more time with my husband, instead of just being here half a year. I just get really tired of pretending to be this fairy-like girl that I am not. I like wearing a black toga and cursing, instead of wearing my old, green toga and talking like little princess.'

'Done!' Persephone said after some minutes. There were no mirrors, and I had no idea what I was looking like. 'Put this on,' Persephone said to me and she threw a pile of clothes at me. I looked at it. 'How?' I asked. 'Just put that on,' she said, pointing at a white piece of cloth. 'If you have managed to put it on, call me. I'll help you with the rest.'

She left the room, and there I stood. I undressed, highly uncomfortable, and put on the white, shapeless cloth, keeping my underwear on. 'I'm done,' I shouted and Persephone entered the room again. 'Excellent,' she said. She grabbed the large piece of purple fabric. 'Like a true queen,' she said, looking at the "garment". 'Arms up,' she said. I did what she asked and she threw the dress over my shoulder. I had no idea what she was doing the following moments, but after a while, she stood still and looked at me. 'Like a proper Greek woman. No, a proper Greek queen.'

I looked down, and all I saw was purple fabric. 'Do you have a mirror somewhere?' I asked. Persephone thought for a moment, and then she shook her head. 'I guess we gods don't need mirrors, because we always look perfect, I guess. You could go to the Styx and look at your reflection.' 'That seems like a good idea. I've wanted to see the real underworld since the moment I got here,' I admitted. Persephone smiled. 'I'll show you the way.'

'Go down the stairs, and just keep on going straight through the Asphodel meadows. It takes quite a long time, but you'll easily find it. Have fun,' said Persephone and she winked. I thanked her, and started walking down the endless stairs that were, what a surprise, made out of black marble.

The Asphodel meadows. I remembered what I had once learned about the underworld. The dead could, as far as I knew, go to three places: the Tartaros, the Asphodel meadows and the Elysian Fields. Those who had lived very well, or heroes, just because they had divine blood, went to the Elysian Fields, where everything was happy. Those who had fucked up completely, for example by cutting and boiling their own son and then eating it for dinner, like king Tantalos did, would go to Tartaros, where they would be punished for all eternity.

When I reached the ground, I started seeing more and more ghost-like creatures. The souls of the dead. They floated a little above the ground and seemed unaware of everything that happened around them. Their faces didn't show any emotions, and their appearances didn't change as they moved. Their hair, for example, didn't wave as they floated from one place to another.

The souls were, just as most people imagine ghosts, translucent. They had all sorts of colours. You would expect to see a lot of old people, but I realised that people used to live shorter, and children died often, and young adults and adults also died from diseases. The most disturbing was seeing young babies and small children floating around, or young men in full armour and even young women, who I would still call children, with babies in their arms, who had probably died in childbed.

The weird thing was that I might have known some of these people, but I just didn't know how they looked so I couldn't recognize them. Maybe that old man with the stabbing wound was Julius Caesar, and the myth about his death was just exaggerated. Maybe that pretty woman was Helen, the woman who had unleashed the Trojan War. I wouldn't know.

By the time I had walked for about two hours, I saw three enormous statues. They were probably as big as two large houses. When I came closer, I realised that these three colossal things were enormous chairs, and three men were sitting on them. I kept walking, not knowing what to do. Luckily, they noticed me before I could say anything. They started talking enthusiastically. Once again I didn't understand. I cleared my throat. 'I'm awfully sorry, but I have no idea what you are talking about.' 'Ah, she's British! A British human! A human! A new soul! After all this time!' the first one exclaimed. 'But she's alive!' the second man said. 'That's right,' I said. 'I fell through some sort of hole in the human world, and now I'm here.' 'But why hasn't Zeus killed you yet?' the first one asked, without a trace of embarrassment or pity. 'He doesn't know about me yet,' I said, 'But I think he will very soon.' I was trying to sound casual, but it was hard since I had a big lump in my throat. I had never liked living that much, but saying this out loud felt very affirmative, definitive.

Nobody said anything, so I decided to just continue my journey. 'You should be proud, you know,' one of them suddenly said. I turned around and looked at him. 'You are one of the only humans to walk on the soil of the underworld. Only Herakles, Odysseus, Orpheus, Aeneas, Theseus and Perithous managed to come out of here alive, and they all had divine blood running through their veins.' 'Well, I wouldn't consider it strange, if Zeus has broken the promise. It's a thing for him to just secretly leave Heaven and create another baby.'

It felt like I had been punched in the stomach. I had never known my father. What if Zeus was my father? No, I would have noticed it. But it could be true. I could be a daughter of Zeus. What if this was destined? What if I was meant to come here? 'Where are you heading, young lady?' the third man asked, interrupting my wild speculations. 'I'm heading to the river Styx. Persephone dressed me up, and I was curious to find out what I look like with these robes,' I said. 'Well, I think you look wonderful,' the second man said. I smiled and thanked him, hoping he could not read my mind, for I was very annoyed by his "compliment". 'See you soon!' the first man said. 'Bye!' I said and waved. As soon as I turned around, my faked smile was gone. Weirdoes. I quickly walked away, to see how these surprisingly comfortable clothes looked on me.

After about an hour, I finally saw a river. As I came closer, I saw that the water was black and a little shiny. I looked at myself, and it felt really weird. I did look like a picture from a history book, but at the same time I looked way too modern. It was so weird that, even though I wasn't wearing make-up or anything that showed off my modern origins, I didn't look like an ancient Greek human. At least I didn't really look like one of the souls I had seen floating around here, but it was quite hard to imagine what they would have looked like alive.

'Well hello there, young lady.' I raised my head and looked at the man who said that. I saw an old man who had a crooked back. 'Good day,' I said, trying to hide the fact that he made me feel highly uncomfortable. 'I heard you talking to the judges, and I am just as surprised as they are to see a human here,' he said. I didn't know how to respond, so I just smiled. 'My name is Charon, ferryman of the underworld. But I haven't brought anyone to the other side for a long time.' Again I said nothing. 'But I could bring you to the other side. You know you'll probably be killed by Zeus if you stay here.' I looked at him. 'Seriously?' He nodded and smiled, showing some filthy yellow teeth. 'But I can't pay you,' I said. He examined me and smirked. 'I think you will.' I tried to stop from gagging and nearly shouted something very offensive, when he suddenly looked at something in great fear. I then heard something that sounded like a herd of elephants running towards us at full speed. I automatically closed my eyes, but seconds later, the sound stopped. I opened my eyes and saw the most enormous beast I had ever seen. It was a big, black dog with three aggressive-looking heads. Kerberos.

'H-Hello sweet doggy,' Charon stuttered. 'W-Who's a good doggy?' Kerberos growled and Charon cringed, making a weird squeaky noise. 'I didn't do anything, I-I swear! It was just a joke,' the old man cried. The enormous dog snorted, making slime fall down like enormous drops of rain. 'G-good dog. Now go back to your boss,' the old man said, still frightened. The dog looked at him, and then he turned his head to me. His six eyes stared at me, and I understood that he was waiting for me to go back. I slowly blinked, looked at my reflection one more time, and then made my way back to the castle.

After some steps, I smelled something horrible, and seconds later, a wind behind me nearly caused me to fall over. I slowly turned around and all I saw was the middle face of Kerberos, lying on the ground. I froze, not knowing what to do. I looked at the beast's enormous fangs, and realised it would be able to devour me in less than a bite. The dog, however, didn't seem like it wanted to kill me. On the contrary, actually: the two eyes on his middle head rolled upwards, as if to say that I could climb his head. He then laid his serpent-like tail on the ground in front of me. I hesitatingly wrapped my limbs around the beast's tail. I immediately felt that he raised his tail. I closed my eyes, and opened them again when I felt fur underneath my back. I released his tail and grabbed some fur. Kerberos had placed me in his neck, and from there I had a beautiful view over the Styx, and on the other side the Asphodel Meadows.

Without a warning, the enormous beast suddenly started running. I braced myself and grabbed some more hairs. I took a deep breath, and smiled as the wind of the underworld played with my long, raven hair.

After just some minutes, my mount stood still and bowed his head. I could easily walk over his neck and head, and jump off his nose onto the last stairs that lead to Hades' castle. I patted the beast on his nose to thank him. He started wagging his tail and softly barked. I waved at him as he ran off, and then I walked away myself to find Persephone.

'Back already?' Persephone asked when I arrived in the living room, where she was sitting. 'Yeah,' I said. 'Your pet gave me a ride.' She looked at me questioningly, but then she started smiling. 'Kerberos? Strange animal. He's never been very nice to visitors, actually. Orpheus was lucky he knew how to play that lyre of his, because Kerbie would've munched off his head if he didn't like his music that much.'

'Victoria,' she said after a short period of silence, 'Tonight I'm leaving Hades and the Hades, because spring will begin tonight and that means I have to go back to my mother. And I think you have to go with me. Zeus has to know about you. So, after dinner, you can pack your belongings and we'll go to Heaven.' I nodded. 'That's okay.'

'Persephone?' I said. My voice sounded fragile, which wasn't normal, but it was quite understandable since this probably meant that my life was about to end. 'Yes?' Persephone responded. 'Will he kill me?' Persephone sighed and sat down on the couch and gestured that I should do the same. 'I can try to hide it, or euphemise it, but truth is, I think he will. We don't want people to know our secret anymore. And since you know it... Victoria, I really like you, and I'll try my best to convince him that you're not harmful to us, but I don't know if he'll believe me.' I tried to smile. 'Doesn't matter. I'll be fine.'

'Good day, my dear guest and my dearest wife,' Hades said cheerfully when he suddenly entered the room. Persephone looked at him, and I luckily had some time to quickly wipe off my tears. Hades' smile faded as he saw the "shut-your-face" look on his wife's face. 'What... What's going-' he stammered. 'I just told Victoria that we have to go tonight,' Persephone said, without a trace of emotion on her face or in her voice. Hades now looked sad as well. 'I forgot about that. Tonight already? Can't you stay for one more day, darling?' he asked. Persephone grinned. 'Don't you remember the last time we tried that? We don't want that again, do we?' Hades smiled faintly. 'Okay, yeah, maybe it's better if you go. But before that, let's have ourselves a hell of a last supper.'

Hades did what he proposed; the meal was extremely delicious and we had a great time. In less than two days, I had nearly started to like these people more than I ever liked anyone. After dinner, I changed into my normal clothes; a dark pair of pants, a black singlet, a dark purple vest and a pair of old sneakers. I removed all the hairpins, which was quite a task, but I finally managed to get my hair back to normal. I took a deep breath. Back to normal. How I was, how I would soon die, and, since I now had no other choice than to believe in the ancient Greek gods, how I would forever be in the Asphodel meadows.

Persephone, who was now wearing a pretty green toga, was in the living room, saying goodbye to her husband. I waited for a while in the shadow of the corridor so I wouldn't destroy their little moment, but after a while I gently cleared my throat. They didn't seem to mind. 'Ready?' Persephone asked. I nodded.

'Thank you so much for everything,' I said to Hades as I shook his hand. 'No problem,' he said with a smile. 'It was nice to have a guest. I hope I'll see you again.' 'I do too,' I said softly. 'How are we going to travel?' I asked Persephone. She smiled. 'Just grab my hand.'


	3. Heaven and Earth

**Hi! Didn't have too much time to check this chapter on mistakes, school has begun and there was a football match I wanted to see :3 Please tell me if you find any spelling errors or perhaps even plot holes. Enjoy!**

What happened after I grabbed Persephone's hand was the weirdest thing that I had ever experienced. It felt like I was getting stretched out from my hands and feet, and at the same time I felt like I was being compressed into a little ball. Furthermore, I felt like I was spinning around like I was trapped in a whirlpool. The weirdest part about it, however, was that I felt all this in less than a second.

As soon as I felt solid ground underneath my feet, I gave everything to stay like that, and however hard it was, I managed. I shook my head, and wanted to look at the new environment, but before I could raise my head, I noticed something off. I spear was pointing at my belly, and if I fell forward now, it would go straight through my torso.

I raised my head, and looked straight into the fiery, deep brown eyes of another huge person. He shouted something at me in the language in which all gods communicated. He sounded so angry, that I was afraid my life would end even sooner than I expected. But I managed to recover from the shock. The man shouted something again and brought his spear even closer. 'Jesus Christ, man!' I shouted at him. 'Is that how you greet your guests?' The god, who was in full armour, seemed confused for a moment, but then he recollected his aggression. 'How dare you speak to me like that? Do you know who I am?' he shouted. 'Judging from your reckless aggression and your barbarian manners, I think I can conclude you are Ares, god of war,' I said, not looking away for a moment. Again, he seemed surprised, and he didn't seem to know what to do. He then turned his head. 'Father! Have you heard this intruder's impertinence? Please, give me your permission to destroy this foul-mouthed woman!'

'Ares, son, will you please calm down?' an enormous man with an enormous white beard said. His voice was so loud and deep I felt it going through my body. Persephone cleared her throat and looked at Zeus. 'Persephone!' he then exclaimed, ignoring his son's request completely. 'How good to see you. But, who is this?' he asked, staring at me as if my presence was already offensive. 'I'm very sorry, but she has found the entrance. By accident.' Zeus stood up, and he looked like he was about to throw around his mighty thunders.

'When was this? Why hasn't Hades told me about this?' he shouted. The other gods who were here anxiously looked at him, but Persephone didn't seem to care. 'She came to us yesterday in the afternoon, so we thought we'd better bring the news when I came back.' Zeus seemed like he had calmed down a little, but he still looked angry. Nobody said anything, which annoyed me. 'So, what are you going to do with me?' I asked Zeus. The gods around me seemed like they were shocked, but I didn't care anymore. I just wanted to know what was going to happen. Zeus, to my surprise, smiled at me. 'I think I'm going to kill you.'

'My king, I understand you, but I want to ask you not to kill her. She's truly nice, and I don't think she'll be able to do us harm in any way,' Persephone said. 'What do you want then?' Zeus said to her. 'You want her to walk around here until she dies? A mortal amidst immortals?' They started squabbling, but I quickly lost interest. They'd tell me about my faith when they would come to a conclusion.

I looked around. Persephone and I were standing in the middle of a round terrace made out of golden cobblestones. Around the edge of the terrace stood enormous, golden columns. I saw we were on a hill made out of clouds. Around the edges of the terrace were benches, on which gods were lying. The bench on which Zeus had sat was on mound. Next to him was a beautiful, brown-haired woman who wore a lilac toga with golden details. At her feet stood a beautiful peacock. She was Hera, queen of all gods, the jealous goddess of matrimony.

'What is your name, girl?' Zeus suddenly asked. 'Victoria,' I said. 'Victoria Marshall.' One of the goddesses who was sitting on a bench stood up. 'Victoria!' she said. I nodded, not knowing how to react. 'We have the same name! Well, technically my name is Nike, but my Roman name is Victoria and I think that's kind of the same.' I started laughing. 'Well, nice to meet you, Victoria,' I said.

Zeus cleared his throat, and Nike immediately bowed her head and sat down again. When she turned around, I suddenly saw she had wings on her back, and once again I realised that I was really amidst the ancient Gods. 'We have decided,' said the king of Gods formally, 'to decide about your faith in a meeting that will be held tonight, with all the important Gods. Tomorrow morning, we will inform you about our decision. Until then, you can stay in one of the Gods' or Goddesses' houses.'

'Good,' I mumbled. I wasn't really satisfied with this, but at least it meant that I had some time to explore this environment. 'You can stay with me, if you want,' said Nike immediately. I didn't know what it was, but every time she spoke and you saw her smile, you couldn't help but smile as well, which wasn't actually a weird characteristic for the goddess of Victory. 'Great idea,' I said to her. 'Thank you.' 'No problem,' she said smiling. 'Let's go.'

We walked down the cloudy hill on a golden staircase. When we reached the ground, I saw that Heaven looked very strange. Like a village with golden, cobblestoned streets and golden buildings, built on woolly clouds. 'That's where Zeus and Hera live,' Nike said, pointing at an enormous golden building. 'In this part of Heaven,' she continued, 'live the most important Gods. Those are mostly Zeus' brothers and sisters, and some of his children.'

We passed some other, beautiful houses and Nike told me to whom they all belonged. Then we arrived at a, how surprising, golden gate. 'This is the part of Heaven where the less important Gods live, along with some "Not-really-Gods", like Semele, Dionysos's mother, who died but has been saved from the underworld by her son, or Psyche, who has been given Ambrosia, the drink of immortality, by Eros.'

'And this,' she said proudly, 'is my house.' We were standing in front of what looked like an ancient temple in bright colours. 'Come in,' Nike said, and I gladly followed her.

We arrived in a big hall, just as colourful as the outside of her house. 'It's so pretty here,' I said. 'Thanks,' Nike said with an enormous smile on her pretty face. 'Do you want something to drink?' 'Yes, please,' I said as I sat down on a comfortable sofa.

'You have a question,' Nike said after she had sat down next to me. I started laughing nervously, because I still found it weird that everyone seemed to be able to read my thoughts. 'Sorry,' Nike said and she started laughing as well. 'We just don't beat around the bush here. So, what do you want to ask?' 'Well, I was wondering, how comes you all speak English perfectly, even though you speak another language with each other?'

Nike smiled. 'We speak ancient Greek with each other.' I started laughing, because I hadn't even thought about that. 'That makes sense, I guess.' 'And we speak English, because sometimes we like to visit the human world. And nobody understands ancient Greek anymore, so we'll have to adjust. And English isn't the only thing we speak fluently. The most spoken language are spoken by everyone in Heaven, and some of us speak other languages. Zeus even speaks every single language, even like, languages that were spoken by citizens of a little village in a rainforest a thousand years ago. Learning languages is quite a nice way to pass eternity.'

'I'd hate to live eternally,' I said. 'Knowing you cannot die, and that you can do everything you want, but you won't remember the good things. Maybe for two hundred years or something, but after that, the memory will be lost. You don't have something to live up to.' Nike nodded. 'That's true, but mortal life doesn't seem ideal as well. And I can do whatever I want, and I can explore the whole world. And when I've explored it all, the world has changed so much that I can start all over again. It's quite fun, actually. And, unlike you, we don't have to worry about work, money, diseases and death. Our lives are rather care-free. We can just live a mortal life and an immortal life at the same time.'

'Still I don't envy you,' I said smiling. 'Even when you're probably going to die soon?' Nike asked. As soon as she said it, she seemed to realise that it was a rather rude question. 'I'm so sorry! I didn't mean... I'm just a big blabbermouth.' 'It doesn't matter,' I said laughing. 'But no, even when I'm probably going to die soon.' 'How does it feel? Knowing that you will soon die?' 'Weird,' I said. 'I just don't know. Especially after the things I've learned the last few days. I thought that, after I'd die, I'd just be gone and that would be it. Knowing that my soul will live on is really, really weird. But I don't think I've fully realised that I'm going to die.'

An hour later, I was lying in an enormous four-poster bed that was beautifully decorated with gold and colourful ribbons. I was in Heaven. Literally. And it felt weird. Like nothing had changed. I was just the same as I had always been, I was just in a different place. And I was about to die. I didn't know what I was feeling, I didn't even know if I was feeling anything at all. Jesus Christ, all this thinking made me so melancholic and I hated it. I turned around in my bed and closed my eyes, hoping that I would quickly fall asleep.

The next morning, I had breakfast with Nike and we talked about things that didn't really matter, because I really didn't want to talk about what was about to happen, and I knew Nike understood that.

'Have you ever flown?' Nike suddenly asked when we were on our way to the place where I entered Heaven yesterday. 'No,' I said with a smile, 'Humans are usually not able to fly.' Nike grinned cheekily. 'Would you like to try?' 'Hell yeah,' I said.

And in less than a minute, Nike and I were flying above the city of Heaven, and it felt amazing. Yesterday, I was thinking about all the things I wanted to do before dying, but I couldn't really think of anything. And now I knew it, I wanted to fly. We circled over the city, making loopings and spiralling down immediately after. And I couldn't stop laughing. Seeing all those gods underneath me, who looked up with hilarious expressions on their faces.

'Prepare for landing,' Nike said chuckling as we came closer to 'Heaven's Akropolis'. Zeus and all the other important Gods were already there, and I saw everyone else had tried to find a place as well, but it was too crowded, so a lot of people were standing on the stairs. Just to see my execution. I suddenly wondered if there had ever been another human in Heaven. What if I was the first one?

I didn't have more time to think about it, because Nike gracefully landed in the middle of the terrace. I must say, I wasn't too comfortable with all these people looking at me, but I managed to solve it as I always did. 'Morning,' I said casually. I heard that Nike started giggling, and I couldn't suppress a laugh. Zeus hummed disapprovingly. 'So, I and the other gods have come to a decision overnight. Or actually, we haven't.' Wow. That was the king of Gods. Disappointing. I sighed deeply. 'Could you just tell me what you mean?' I asked impatiently. Some gods gasped, but once again, Zeus didn't seem to care. 'What I meant to say was that we haven't come to a conclusion yet. Therefore, we want to bring you back to the human world, of course with someone of us to guard you, until we have decided.' I sighed again. This vagueness was annoying me more than I could say. 'Can't I just stay here until you've decided?' I asked before I even thought about it. Zeus looked at me and suddenly grinned. 'No.' I knew there was no possible way to make him change his mind, so I shut up.

Suddenly, I realised something. 'I don't have anywhere to go in the human world. My dorm room is way too small for two people, and my mother shouldn't know about this, so we can't go to my house.' 'You can. Your mother is on holiday with her boyfriend, so the house is unoccupied.' I frowned. 'My mom has a boyfriend?' Zeus nodded.

'So, who wants to join our lovely Victoria-' Hera nudged him with her elbow and looked at him with fiery eyes, 'to the human world?' Some gods muttered, but nobody volunteered, probably because of my lack of manners. But then, a man who was, unlike the other people around here, of my length. 'I will keep an eye on her,' he said with a loud, deep voice. 'Achilles!' Zeus happily exclaimed. Even more gods gasped. 'How nice of you. Pack what you want to bring, so you can leave as soon as possible.'

Achilles turned around and walked towards the village, and many Gods did the same. 'Peculiar,' Nike whispered. 'Achilles never goes to the human world. Since his mother brought him here, he has stayed and sulked through eternity's days.'

After most of the gods had returned to their homes, I tried my best to, non-verbally, let Zeus know that I had a question, but he didn't seem to notice. I cleared my throat, and the king of Gods looked at me questioningly. 'I'd like to speak with you,' I said. 'Go ahead,' Zeus said smiling. 'Alone,' I said softly. Zeus nodded, and looked at the remaining gods. They all disappeared immediately. And there I was, alone with the most important of Gods.

'So, what did you want to say?' he asked. 'Well, I was wondering, it's rather stupid, but, you see, I don't know who my father is. And I remembered that you are, well, not only a parent to your wife's children, if you know what I mean,' I said awkwardly. Zeus started laughing. 'Don't you know about the pact? After everyone stopped believing in us, all the gods promised that, if they went to the human world, they wouldn't make important changes. That means that nobody is allowed to make women pregnant. And yes, I know I've done that a lot, but as a King I shouldn't break promises, and I never did. I'm sorry, but your father is just an ordinary man. Just another one of your mother's boyfriends.'

Usually, people would get mad for a comment like this, because it insinuated that my mother was some sort of slut, but I started laughing. 'I see. I just thought it would be logical, since I came here. I thought that maybe there was a link.' Zeus shook his head. 'I'm sorry.' 'I'm ready,' someone suddenly said behind me. I turned around to see the handsome hero who would come home with me.

'Great,' Zeus said. 'I don't want you to get out of your house. I'll send someone if we've reached our decision. So, good luck you two.' I smiled. 'See you soon.' Zeus smiled. 'Grab my hand,' said Achilles bossily. 'What?' I asked. 'Grab my hand! Is that so hard?' 'Christ, man, cool down,' I said as I did what he asked. Again, the weird sensation, and in a second we were standing at the front door of my old house.

It looked worse than ever. Even though it was a beautiful, big house, the paint was peeling off and vines were covering the walls. I opened the door, and a trusted scent greeted me, along with some rather unpleasant memories. 'Welcome to, well, whatever you want to call this. You want something to drink?' Achilles muttered something, and I took it as a yes. I went to the kitchen, dropped my vest on the table and discovered that the fridge was completely empty. The only thing we had was tap water and an enormous amount on alcohol. I looked at the big clock above the door. 8:16. A little too early, I thought, so I filled to glasses with water and went to the living room, where Achilles was sitting.

I handed him his drink, apologized for the fact that we had nothing better and sat down. I sat down next to fucking Achilles. I took a sip and looked at him. 'So, uhm, you're Achilles?' I said. Dear god. I was sitting next to the most famous of half-gods and I asked him if I was Achilles? Why didn't I ever think before speaking? 'Of course I am,' he said, sounding annoyed. 'So, you were like the biggest hero of the Trojan war? You're the one who killed Prince Hektor?' 'Yes, of course, I'm Achilles!' he said angrily. 'Geez, I'm sorry, I've just never met a Greek Hero before,' I said fiery and sighed. I didn't know if it was because of this old environment or his behaviour, but I felt that I was changing back into my old self. My self from when I didn't know about the Gods. The last days, I had just been too excited to be sarcastic and mean.

I had been so excited to get to know a real half-god, but spending God knew how long with this man? It didn't seem too ideal. Maybe he was just having a bad day, and tomorrow he would tell me everything about his life. But deep down, I knew that was not going to happen.

He didn't say anything anymore, so I decided to leave him alone to do what I had missed most, play my old, loyal guitar.


	4. Water and Fire

**Hi everyone! I'm sorry for using lyrics in this chapter, but when I listened to the lyrics of this song, I knew I wanted to use it in my story. If you don't know the song (you'll find the title somewhere in the story), I strongly recommend you listen to it. I hope you like it, and I hope you like this chapter as well. Enjoy!**

There he was. My little Fender. Dusty and old, but with an aura of amazing memories. I connected my guitar to the amplifier and struck a chord. Oh, the sweet noise. I felt euphoric, because I could play as loud as I wanted, since there was nobody home. Well, Achilles was in the living room, but I didn't care about him. I just wanted to play.

I looked through my old sheet music and smiled when I saw the last song I played. Disposable Heroes by Metallica. I started playing the solo, because the rest of the song sounded like shit without a complete band.

How I had missed this. Losing yourself completely. I lost my ability to care and danced and headbanged through the room. My jam session was interrupted by Achilles, who entered the room. 'What is this noise?' he screamed. I looked at him and wanted to get mad for being rude, but I couldn't help but smile since playing the guitar had improved my mood.

'It's music,' I said. He looked at me as if I had just said I actually was an elephant in disguise. 'Shit,' he suddenly said. 'What is it?' I asked. 'Forgot my lyre.' I started laughing. 'A lyre? Don't you want to try something new? I mean, you seem kind of angry, but anger can't be expressed through a lyre, can it? Lyres are for expressing sorrow, guitars for expressing anger. Of course you can express nearly every emotion you want to express through a guitar, but it's great for anger. Wanna try?' 'I'm not angry,' he said. 'And I don't want to express anything through that ugly instrument of yours.'

Okay, now I was annoyed again. I wondered how long I would be able to live in one house with him. I grabbed the sheet music, read the lyrics and started laughing. 'This song suits you,' I said with a cheeky smile. 'Why?' he asked. I handed him the paper.

 _"_ _Bodies fill the fields I see, hungry heroes end  
No one to play soldier now, no one to pretend  
Running blind through killing fields, bred to kill them all  
Victim of what said should be  
A servant 'til I fall_

 _Soldier boy, made of clay  
Now an empty shell  
Twenty-one, only son  
But he served us well  
Bred to kill, not to care  
Do just as we say  
Finished here  
Greetings, Death  
He's yours to take away_

 _Back to the front  
You will do what I say, when I say  
Back to the front  
You will die when I say, you must die  
Back to the front  
You coward  
You servant  
You blind man_

 _Barking of machinegun fire does nothing to me now  
Sounding of the clock that ticks, get used to it somehow  
More a man, more stripes you bare, glory-seeker trends  
Bodies fill the fields I see  
The slaughter never ends  
Soldier boy, made of clay  
Now an empty shell  
Twenty-one, only son  
But he served us well  
Bred to kill, not to care  
Do just as we say  
Finished here  
Greetings, Death  
He's yours to take away_

 _Back to the front  
You will do what I say, when I say  
Back to the front  
You will die when I say, you must die  
Back to the front  
You coward  
You servant  
You blind man_

 _Why, am I dying?  
Kill, have no fear  
Lie, live off lying  
Hell, hell is here_

 _I was born for dying_

 _Life planned out before my birth, nothing could I say  
Had no chance to see myself, moulded day by day  
Looking back I realize, nothing have I done  
Left to die with only friend  
Alone I clench my gun_

 _Soldier boy, made of clay  
Now an empty shell  
Twenty-one, only son  
But he served us well  
Bred to kill, not to care  
Do just as we say  
Finished here  
Greetings, Death  
He's yours to take away_

 _Back to the front  
You will do what I say, when I say  
Back to the front  
You will die when I say, you must die  
Back to the front  
You coward  
You servant  
You blind man_

 _Back to the front"_

'What do you mean with this?' Achilles asked. 'Well, I just think it suits you. You're just a disposable hero. " _Bred to kill them all, a servant 'til I fall, looking back I realize, nothing have I done."_ I think it suits you,' I said. I saw my goal had been reached. He was getting angry. Very, very angry. 'What do you mean, _nothing have I done_? I have written history!' he growled out. 'Yeah, but have you changed anything? Have you set an example? I don't think so! You've just killed some people! Nothing legendary about that! Have you ever done anything else than killing men? I don't even know why you're still known, for killing people is not something that demands much talent. You just have to have a lack of sanity.'

The anger in his eyes turned into cold-blooded hate, but I didn't look away. 'How dare you,' he whispered. 'You don't know anything about what I've done. You're just jealous of me. After you die, no one will know your name, you won't be missed.' 'I'd rather be missed than remembered for something stupid,' I said. 'I KILLED HALF OF THE TROJAN ARMY BY MYSELF. WITHOUT ME, THEY WOULD HAVE DEFEATED THE GREEK ARMY! DO YOU THINK ANY MAN CAN DO THAT?' I was silent for a moment. 'Yes, I do,' I said then. To my surprise, he walked away to open the window. He turned around, looked at me, and in less than a second, he had grabbed my ankles and I was hanging upside down from the window.

'Do it,' I said. 'Do it then.' Achilles didn't return. 'I will be dead, but nobody will miss me, the gods won't have to decide if they want to kill me or not, and you won't have to deal with me anymore. The secret of the Gods will die with me. Why don't you just do it? I've been extremely rude. And after all, you're used to killing people. Would one insignificant little girl make a difference?' Deep down inside, I really started hoping that he'd do it. I wouldn't even care. I wouldn't have to wait until the Gods would decide, and I wouldn't have to be in one house with a grumpy half-god. 'Do it, for god's sake! There are no disadvantages! Let go!'

He started squeezing my ankles, and I braced myself. Achilles sighed, but instead of letting go he pulled me up and put me down on the window-sill. He looked at me for a moment, then he turned around and left the room.

After that near-death experience, I pretended like nothing had happened. I played my guitar some more, and then I realised that I was dying for some cigarettes. I knew I didn't had any myself, so I searched my mother's room, but found nothing. The kitchen was empty as well, so I decided to ask Achilles.

He was sitting on a couch in the living room, looking through a magazine. 'Achilles, we need to go to the supermarket,' I said. 'We can't leave the house,' he said grumpily. He didn't even look at me, so I know he was still furious about the things I had said. 'But we're nearly out of food and I need some cigarettes.' 'Haven't you heard me? We can't leave the house!' 'Come on! I bet that my mother's boyfriends have forgotten enough clothes here to dress you like a normal man. No one will even suspect that you're some sort of god.' 'I said no!' shouted Achilles. 'Fine.' I said. 'But if I die from starvation, it's your fault.' 'Then tell me, why would I care, or feel guilty, if you died?' said Achilles. I sighed and walked away.

Suddenly, I remembered that I had bought a pack of cigarettes on the day I came to Hades. Did I leave it there? I rushed towards the kitchen, to search my vest. And there it was, a little package filled with goodness. I went back to the living room, opened the window and sat down on the window-sill. I lit up a cigarette and took a long drag.

'You want some too?' I asked Achilles. 'No,' he said. 'Still mad?' I asked. 'You can still push me out of the window now. I don't know if you've seen it yet, but the house has been built on a hill. The front door is at ground level, but here, we're about four metres above the ground. If I land well, I'll break my neck and die.' 'I am not going to kill you,' said Achilles. 'Not? I thought you'd love to-' 'Yet,' he said. I laughed and blew a little cloud of tobacco goodness.

I felt like it was time to get some fresh air, so I went down to the cellar, grabbed a football, opened the door and entered the garden. The garden was the only place that was filled with rather good memories. Mostly because my mother never came here, and playing football had always been a fun pastime. I started kicking the ball against the wall aimlessly.

'There you are!' I suddenly heard. I looked at the doorway, where Achilles was standing, looking agitated. 'I've been looking everywhere for you!' 'Ahw, were you missing me?' I sked. 'This is no joke! Don't you understand? No one can know about us!' he screamed. 'Dude, calm down. I'm just in the backyard, I'm not going away or something. Besides, if I wanted to tell anyone, they wouldn't even believe me.' 'How can I calm down if you are just going everywhere? I'm supposed to be guarding you, and that shouldn't be that hard.' 'Oh, and what is Zeus going to do if I get away? Kill you?' I asked sarcastically. 'That's not funny,' he said angrily and he turned around. 'Achilles, wait.' He turned around, still looking pissed. 'I'm sorry, okay?' He growled something. 'Wanna join?' I asked, gesturing at the football. 'What is that?' he asked. 'You've never played football before?' I asked. 'Of course not,' he said. 'Well, it shouldn't be too hard for an athletic hero like you,' I said cynically. He rolled his eyes and started kicking the ball against the wall like I had done before.

'It's fun,' he said after a couple of minutes, 'but I prefer using my hands.' He grabbed the ball, turned around to the hills that were behind our backyard. When he threw it, I saw the evidence that he was not a normal man. His throw was so powerful that the ball disappeared behind the hill. 'Oops,' he said sarcastically. 'Come on, that was my favourite ball!' I said. 'Go fetch it, then.' 'No, you threw it away, so you should fetch it,' I said. 'Well sorry, but I don't need that ball,' he said like a little child. 'Fucking hell,' I said and walked towards the hills. When I had arrived at the end of the garden, I turned around and screamed: 'One day I'll have my revenge, cockface!'

After quite a long time, I arrived at a little creek in the valley, where the ball was lying. Just as I picked it up, I heard some loud rumbling above me. I looked up, and saw that the skies had turned dark grey. 'Fucking hell,' I whispered again, as I felt a droplet splashing apart on my nose. I started running, hoping that I could reach my house in time, but by the time I arrived on top of the mountain, it was pouring with rain already. Achilles was nowhere to be seen. 'ACHILLES!' I shouted. 'ACHILLES!' Just before I was about to scream his name for the third time, his stature appeared in the doorway. 'CLOSE ALL THE WINDOWS, NOW!' He seemed to have heard me, because he quickly disappeared and I started running down the hill.

I was near the base of the hill, when I tripped over a stone, which caused me to fall and roll through the mud until I had reached the backyard. Cursing loudly, I got up and ran the last bit towards the back door. I kicked off my shoes and ran up the stairs. Achilles was standing in the hallway and started laughing when he saw me. 'You look like some sort of swamp monster!' he said and started laughing again. 'Yeah, real funny, indeed. And all because you had to show off your muscles. Thanks a lot,' I snarled at him, and then I made my way to the bathroom to take a long, hot shower.

Showering is always a good thing, but if you haven't showered for three days, you've been through a lot and you're covered in mud, it's even better. Until you find out you haven't got dry clothes. 'ACHILLES!' I screamed. No response. I made the water stop running and screamed his name again. 'What?' his low voice shouted from downstairs. 'Could you get me some clothes?' 'Where?' he shouted, running up the stairs. 'From the closet in my bedroom. The guitar room, you remember?' I responded. 'Just grab some clothes and a bra and some underwear!' 'What's a bra?' he shouted. I sighed. 'Just grab some normal clothes, and a weird bumpy thing from the bottom left drawer and just grab five things from the bottom right drawer, so I can choose the best one!' 'Okay!' he shouted. About a minute later, he knocked on the door. 'Just throw them in, and don't look!' I said. The door opened, his hand appeared, he dropped the clothes and shut the door again. 'Thanks you!' I said and I continued showering.

I got dressed and sighed because Achilles had picked a short, sleeveless black dress, which was way too cold. I went to my room, grabbed a woollen, oversized vest and went back downstairs. 'Great outfit when you're cold,' I said grumpily when I saw Achilles in the living room. 'Oh, sorry I don't know everything about modern clothing,' he said grumpily. 'Great weather, by the way,' he added. He was absolutely right. The rain was pouring down like its life depended on it, and a thunderstorm had joined to make it even jollier. 'Be right back,' I said.

I found a bottle of long-preservable milk in the cellar, and we still had some cocoa and sugar, so I decided to make us some hot chocolate. I used to do this every time the weather gods were angry and my mother wasn't at home, and it was fun to do it again after all those years.

'What is this?' Achilles asked as soon as he had tasted the cocoa. 'Hot chocolate,' I said. 'It's amazing,' he said. 'I know,' I said smirking. I waited for him to continue the conversation, but he remained quiet. And quiet was how everything stayed that evening.

While I was making my way to my bedroom to go to sleep, I wondered why everything felt so weird. The house didn't feel like I had lived in it, it felt like I was in some sort of hotel. But, on the other hand, every little corner was tied to a memory. That was where I hid all day after I had insulted my mother's new boyfriend, that's where I cried for an hour and swore to myself to never forgive my mother. 'Everything alright?' Achilles said. I turned around agitatedly. 'My god, Achilles, you scared the life out of me!' I said. 'I'm sorry. But are you okay?' I nodded. 'I came to ask where I can, you know, do what I need to do?' he asked. 'You mean shitting?' He nodded. I brought him to the bathroom, showed him the toilet and explained how to flush. 'Anything else?' I asked. 'Yeah, where can I sleep tonight?' he asked. 'You can just choose a room, except mine of course,' I said. 'Why are there so many rooms?' he asked. 'This place used to be a hotel, and my mother always had many guests here, so she needed a lot of guest bedrooms,' I explained. 'Okay. Just wondering,' he said. 'I was wondering about something as well,' I said, without thinking twice. 'What is it?' he asked. 'Why do you need to use the toilet?' He stared at me, and I realised how weird that question was. 'I mean, you're immortal, you don't have needs to fulfil, you don't have to eat or anything, so why do you need to go to the toilet?' 'Honestly, I don't know,' he sighed. 'Perhaps it's because I'm not a god, but a half-god and that being back on earth brings certain memories and that my needs are just illusions. I just don't know.' 'Why are you the only half-god in Heaven?' I asked. 'Oh, I'm not the only one. Herakles is in Heaven too, he has been deified by Zeus himself, but only because he was a son of his. I wasn't meant to come to heaven. I was sent to the Elysian fields after I was killed, but my mother sort of kidnapped me and brought me to Heaven. Zeus was furious, but I had left the underworld and was therefore immortal.' 'You don't seem so, I don't know, happy about it,' I said. 'That's more than true,' he said. I looked at him questioningly. 'You think I am happy to be immortal? Do you wonder why I've never come to earth? Because it hurts! It fucking hurts! Seeing all those people, living mortal lives! I wasn't meant to be immortal! I've grown up knowing the gods, because they were my family, and I knew they envy us because we have the ability to die! Everything is more enjoyable when you know it might me the last time you experience it! How do you think it would feel if you see people feeling the happiness that you know you will never feel again?' 'I understand,' I said softly. 'No, you don't!' Achilles shouted. 'Of course you don't understand! You don't know what it's like, to spend eternity knowing you weren't meant to go through the eternal suffering, but you can't escape it! Every day feels like I'm in fucking Tartaros! Jumping between mortality and immortality, like the other gods do, is nothing for me. Who are you, when you can be anyone?' 'I think you're right, but don't you think you're exaggerating a little bit?' I asked. 'Exaggerating? How dare you?' he growled out. I had never seen anyone being that mad, and it was absolutely frightening. But I wasn't the kind of person who flees when attacked. I'm the kind of person who fights fire with fire. 'I absolutely agree, but you don't have to be such a little bitch about it. I understand it's hard and all, but if you can't change it, can't you stop worrying about it?' I said fiery. 'For a moment, I thought you were rather smart, but now I see, you're just as everyone else!' 'Okay, now you've got to listen-' 'NO! YOU LISTEN TO ME! YOU WILL NOT TALK TO ME LIKE THAT!' he shouted. He clenched his fists, and for a moment I thought he was going to attack me, but he punched a hole in the wall and walked away.

I lay down on my bed. Had I gone too far? I didn't think so. I just told him what he needed to know. It probably wouldn't make my stay here more enjoyable, but it was actually ruined from the start. I sighed and tried to go to sleep, but every time I closed my eyes, I saw the fire I had seen in his eyes, which kept me awake for a rather long time.


	5. Godly Guests

**A new chapter with some new characters! I have nothing more to say, so, enjoy!**

Yesterday evening, we had eaten some beans and a bag of crisps for dinner, and all what was left now in the kitchen was an old loaf of bread. I decided to toast it and drink a shitload of water to be able to swallow it. We really needed to go to the supermarket.

Achilles entered the kitchen. 'Is there any food left?' he asked. 'You're immortal, you don't need food,' I said. 'People used sacrifice their food to me. They used to have temples and feasts, dedicated to me!' he said. 'Oh, poor boy, do you need some attention?' I asked sarcastically. 'Fuck off,' he snapped at me and he walked away.

I thought, after we had played football together, after he had given me some witty, semi-insulting responses, and after he had asked about my welfare, that we would learn to get along. But yesterday's fight? I wasn't so sure. I wondered if I should care. The gods would probably decide soon, for they had nothing better to do than debate about my faith.

Around noon, the doorbell suddenly rang. I anxiously looked at Achilles, who was sitting in the other corner of the room. He wouldn't leave me alone, but at the same time he wanted to stay as far away from me as possible. He nodded, as if to say that I should get the door. I got up, made my way to the hall and did what Achilles had allowed me to do. What I saw, was possibly the last thing I had expected.

Two big people, like Hades and Persephone, were standing there, together with two people of my length and two who were somewhere in between. The two big people looked like each other, even though the man had golden curls and light blue eyes, and the girl had dart brown hair and dark blue eyes. The smallest two people were also a man and a woman. The woman was really pretty, with dark, wavy hear and a big set of eyes. The man was handsome as well, with his brown curls and dark brown smiling eyes. The remaining two people were also a man and the woman. The man was terribly muscular and had brown curls and a beard. The woman looked really nice, with long brown hair and pretty, green eyes.

'Hello, Victoria,' the smallest man said. 'Hello, person whose name I don't know,' I said. 'My name is Dionysos. We're here to assist you and Achilles.' 'Oh thank god,' I sighed. 'Come in.'

'What are you doing here?' Achilles asked curtly. 'Hello, Achilles, how nice to see you!' said the girl of Dionysos' length. Achilles said nothing. The girl rolled her eyes and stretched her arm to shake my hand. 'My name is Ariadne, Dionysos' wife,' she said smiling. 'Pleasure,' I said. 'I believe you all know my name.' 'We do,' said Ariadne. 'The gods can't stop talking about you. It has always been rare to have a human in Heaven, but after all this time, it was even weirder.' 'I understand,' I said. 'Have they already come closer to a decision?' 'Sadly, no,' responded Ariadne. 'But you shouldn't worry about that now,' said the half-long, sweet looking woman. 'By the way, I am Hebe, daughter of Zeus and Hera,' she said. 'Do you have to say that every time, Hebe?' Dionysos asked. 'I just thought I'd make it a bit clearer, since I am not at all a famous goddess.' 'I'm afraid she's right,' I said. 'Thanks for the explanation,' I said to Hebe, and cheekily smiled at Dionysos, who shook his head laughing. 'And I'm Herakles, Hebe's husband,' said the man of medium length. 'I don't think we need to explain who he is,' said Dionysos. I shook my head and laughed. 'I don't think so, no.' 'I am Apollo,' said the long, handsome man, 'and this is my sister Artemis. 'I can introduce myself, brother,' she said grumpily, 'But yeah, I'm Artemis,' she said to me and laughed. 'So nice to meet you all,' I said. 'But don't you have to be at the convention, deciding about my faith?' 'We did, but it bored us all,' said Dionysos. 'So when we heard some others were going to earth, we joined. I've never liked the formal part of being a God,' said Apollo. 'Well, you're most welcome here,' I smiled.

'Have a seat,' I said, gesturing at the couches. 'Do you want something to drink? I'm afraid we only have water.' 'You know I'm the god of wine, don't you?' Dionysos said. 'Just fetch us some chalices or whatever and I'll provide the drinks.' 'Great idea,' I said and went to the kitchen. I came back with eight wine glasses on a tray, which I put on the table. Dionysos snapped his fingers, and the glasses were filled with wine. 'Awesome,' I said and took a sip. 'It's delicious,' I said. 'It's divine wine, of course it's delicious,' Dionysos answered and we all laughed.

'It's been quite a long time since my last visit to the human world,' said Ariadne after I had finished my second glass. 'After I came to Heaven, I used to return to earth quite often, to see how my relatives were doing, but I think I don't have any family members left.' 'Family members?' I asked. 'But you're-' 'Not a goddess,' she finished. 'I was born mortal, but my dear Dionysos has brought me to immortality. Don't you know our story?' 'Frankly, I don't,' I said. 'Well, let me tell you then. My father was Minos, king of Krete, and my mother was called Pasiphae. She, after she had been tricked by Poseidon, I'll spare you the details, gave birth to the Minotauros, a half-man, half-bull. Every nine years, seven boys and seven girls were brought from Athens to feed this beast. One time, the King of Athens's son was brought together with the other children, because he was determined to kill the beast. I promised to help this young man, Theseus was his name, if he took me to Athens and married me there afterwards. I made him promise that because I didn't want to get married to the man my father had in mind for me, since he was terribly rude and disgusting. When the children and Theseus entered the labyrinth in which the Minotauros was hiding, I gave him a wire, which he fastened to the gate so he would always find his way back. He defeated the beast and we escaped. We spent the night on an island called Nexos, where Dionysos found me. He took me to heaven, gave me Ambrosia and we lived happily ever after.' 'And Theseus?' I asked. 'Oh, that boy, I'm glad I didn't have to marry him. Weird boy, that was. Very "heroic", but he actually was stupid as a rock.'

'What's your story, Hebe?' I asked. 'Nothing interesting, really. As you know, I'm the daughter of Zeus and Hera, goddess of youth and I used to be the cupbearer for the Gods and Goddesses of Mount Olympus, which means I served them Ambrosia and Nectar. Ganymedes replaced me after I got married to Herakles. As you might know, my mother has always tried to kill Herakles, but after he came to Heaven, they were reconciled, and she gave me to him to be his wife. And his wife I've been since.'

'Shall we go do something?' suggested Hebe after a rather long and rather awkward silence. 'Yeah, but what?' responded Dionysos. 'We're in Great Britain, everyone knows there's nothing to do in Great Britain!' 'Yes there is!' I said. 'Oh, sorry, didn't know you were all patriotic,' Dionysos said slightly annoyed. 'No, no, that's not what I mean. We happen to have a swimming pool in our cellar!' 'Amazing!' Dionysos said. 'Only problem is that I don't have enough bathing suits for us all.' 'Bathing suits? Why would we need those?' asked Dionysos. 'We usually swim in bathing suits,' I said. 'But if you don't want that, that's okay. It's actually better. But I will put on mine, if you don't mind.' 'Of course we don't mind,' said Hebe. 'Great! Then I'll see you all soon,' I said and I ran to my room.

'Victoria!' said Dionysos when I came back. 'You haven't told me that your middle name is Ivy!' 'That's right,' I said, rather surprised. 'Why would you need to know?' 'Ivy happens to be a plant that has been dedicated to me!' 'Oh, great!' I said. 'But how have you found out?' The god raised his hand, and in it I saw my birth certificate. 'Have you been going through my things?' 'You were very cute when you were younger,' he said, ignoring my question completely. 'What?' He showed me a picture of me when I was about eleven years old. 'This was on top of your certificate. You remind me of Iphigeneia.' Everyone froze and looked at Achilles, who seemed rather mad.

Nobody said anything, so I decided to break the ice. 'Who's Iphigeneia?' I asked. Achilles got up from his chair. 'Iphigeneia was the daughter of a man who used to be my King,' he said. 'When we were about to go to Ilion*, the wind was stopped by a certain Goddess,' he looked at Artemis piercingly, 'and that King, Agamemnon was his name, decided to sacrifice his daughter, hoping the wind would return. But he was in a harbour town, and Iphigeneia was still at home. That's why he sent a message, saying that she was going to marry me. So she came, discovering that she wouldn't get married, and then her father killed the girl.'

'I should have never listened to Thetis,' said Artemis. 'Thetis? What has my mother got to do with this?' Achilles asked fiercely. 'Thetis came to me, desperate, because she didn't want you to go to Ilion. Of course she knew that I bore a grudge against Agamemnon, since he had offended me. I told her that I could only delay the war, and not stop it. She told me that was enough. I was already planning on doing something else to make him pay for how he had offended me, but I thought it was a good idea to tease him a little. I was planning to bring back the wind after some weeks, I didn't know that he was prepared to give his own daughter for that war. When I heard he was about to sacrifice that poor little girl, I made the wind come back, but it was too late. The girl was already gone, and the war had already begun.'

'So it was my mother? Why has she never told me?' Achilles said furiously. 'I don't know. I'm sorry,' said Artemis, but Achilles didn't respond. 'I think it's time to swim a bit,' Dionysos said to stop the silence. 'Are you coming with us, Achilles?' He shook his head, so I brought the other immortals to the cellar.

I was very disappointed when I turned on the light. The pool was empty. 'I'm sorry, guys,' I said. 'I didn't know about this.' 'Oh, don't be sorry! After all, who needs water when you have wine?' Dionysos said happily. He snapped his finger, and all of the sudden the pool was filled with a dark red fluid. 'Awesome!' I said. 'Thanks! You're like the real Jesus!' Dionysos suddenly looked puzzled. 'In fact, I might be,' he said slowly. 'Wait, what?' 'I used to do some tricks like these in the human world, just to tease them, and I can imagine that I've been to the Middle West. Maybe I'm the reason for that whole water-wine myth,' he said and he started laughing.

'Is it safe for me, to swim in wine?' I asked. 'Didn't think of that,' Dionysos said. He snapped his fingers. ' What have you done?' I asked. 'Protected your eyes,' he responded. 'Now you can dive in peace.' 'Wonderful,' I said. I ran up and cannonballed into the pool.

Never in my life, I had expected that I would ever swim in a pool filled with wine, together with four naked immortals.

After about a quarter of an hour, Achilles suddenly came in. He too was not wearing anything. 'Are you seriously swimming in wine?' he asked. 'Yeah, wanna join?' asked Dionysos happily. 'Naturally,' he said and he dived gracefully into the wine. 'Well, someone's suffering from mood swings,' Artemis whispered to me, looking at Achilles, and we both started laughing.

I was talking to Apollo, when we suddenly heard a scream behind us. We turned around to see Herakles, holding Achilles over his shoulder. 'Very funny, Kles,' Achilles said grumpily. But Herakles started rotating, swinging Achilles around like he was hammer throwing. 'Stop that or I'll puke in your wine bath!' shouted Achilles. Herakles started roaring with laughter and put his co-hero down. 'What do I see? Is our big hero suddenly helpless?' asked Dionysos teasingly. 'Only because he's three times bigger than I am. But I swear, if we were to fight, I'd easily win,' said Achilles. 'Show us, then,' I said. 'Can't,' said Herakles. 'I don't fight little girls.'

'I've got to take a shower, before this wine soaks into my skin,' I said. 'See you soon.' I left the room and went straight to the bathroom. I saw that my hair looked a little purple-ish, and I actually liked it. However, I did not know if wine was that good for your hair, so I just decided to wash it. After I had showered, I put on some decent clothes, because I felt like I had to look a little prettier in the company of all those Goddesses.

When I came back down, to my surprise, dinner was served, and Apollo was playing on his lyre. 'After a day with a grumpy Achilles, we thought we'd give you a treat,' said Hebe smiling. 'Thank you so much,' I said and took a seat. It was the best dinner I had since ages, probably even the best dinner that I had ever had. 'Thank you so much, it's amazing,' I said. 'Divine dinner, of course it's amazing,' said Dionysos and we all laughed.

After dinner, we had a fun time talking about all the things that the Gods had done. 'I'm going to bed,' said Achilles suddenly. 'But you've only had twenty-five glasses of wine! You're not tipsy yet are you?' asked Dionysos. Hebe, who was sitting next to him, nudged him in his ribs. 'Goodnight, Achilles,' she said. 'Goodnight,' he mumbled and he went to his room. 'Don't know what's wrong with that guy,' said Dionysos. 'He's probably just tired,' said Herakles. 'I've never seen him as happy as he was this afternoon,' said Apollo, 'and now he's mad again.' 'Mood swings, I told you,' said Artemis and we laughed. 'I think I'll go to bed too,' I said. 'I'll check to see if he's doing okay.'

I knocked on his door, but he didn't respond. I knocked again. 'Achilles,' I said softly. 'Are you okay?' 'Yeah,' he mumbled. I opened the door. Achilles was sitting on a chair, staring at the wall. 'Get out,' he mumbled. 'Is anything the matter?' I asked. 'No,' he said. 'Now get out.' 'If you tell me what's going on.' 'You're really blind, aren't you? Don't you see I don't fit in with these other Gods. I came to earth to see if I fit in, and I don't. I don't belong anywhere! Do you know how that feels?' 'This shit again?' I said. 'Maybe it's because you're acting like a jerk most of the time! You'd fit in anywhere if you just tried.' 'How dare you? You don't know how it feels to spend eternity unhappy, where you don't belong?' 'Honestly, you're reacting like a self-pitying teenager! If you just ditch the unhappiness, you'll live happily for all eternity.' 'That's not how it works! You wouldn't know, you're just a-' 'I am mortal, and if there's anyone who knows something about suffering it's me. I've been there, Achilles. I was so unhappy I nearly took my own life twice. And right before my third attempt, something that couldn't go wrong like the other two had, I realised how pathetic I had been acting. You are under your own control, and even if emotions sometimes take over, you can fix yourself. It's not as hard as it seems, you've just got to do it!' 'You don't understand!' Achilles shouted. 'Fine then. Good luck spending the rest of eternity like a miserable twat.' I turned around to leave the room, but suddenly pushed me against the wall and placed his underarm over my throat. 'YOU HAVE NOT RIGHT TO SPEAK TO ME LIKE THAT!' he shouted. 'HOW DO YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO TALK TO ME LIKE THIS THEN?' I screamed. I was trying to hide the fact that I felt my body going weaker, but it was hard since I started feeling more and more lightheaded. 'Achilles, release me now and think about what I said,' I said. I started freaking out and I wanted him to release me before I lost my mind. He looked like he was about to say something, but instead he grabbed my throat and kept looking at me, as I tried to scream but only produced some squeaking sounds. Just before I thought that all the air in my lungs was gone, he threw me on the ground with remarkable force. I took some deep breaths and looked at him. 'That'll teach you,' he said. 'You can say or do what you want, but you'll never take my freedom of speech,' I said and left the room.

I was staring at the ceiling from my bed, thinking about what had happened, when I heard someone knocking on the door. 'Come in,' I said softly. 'Unless you're Achilles, then you can fuck off.' 'It's me, Artemis,' said the person behind the door. 'Come in,' I said. Artemis did what I had allowed and sat down on the edge of my bed. 'We heard you two screaming,' she said. 'Yeah, I was trying to help him but he wouldn't listen.' 'He could use some help,' Artemis said, smiling faintly. 'But he doesn't listen to anyone. We've been trying since he's come to Heaven, but still is he so embittered, so full of hate. Some have given up on him, but I still hope he will someday recover. It's not a good way of spending eternity.' 'Isn't there a way he can just, well, die?' I asked. Artemis shook her head. 'Thetis wouldn't let him. I've thought about that too, but Achilles is not a real god, and he does not possess the powers the Gods have. Even if Zeus allowed him to go to the underworld, Thetis would keep him from it, no matter what.' I took a deep breath. 'Has he hurt you?' asked Artemis suddenly. 'Nearly killed me, actually.' 'He did what?' said the Goddess aghast. 'Has he gone mad? If he ever attacks you again, we'll make sure he'll go back to Heaven. You're our host and he does not have the right to treat you like that. No one has the right to treat anyone like that.' 'Thanks,' I said. Artemis smiled. 'You're welcome. You should go to sleep now. Mortals need that.' I smiled too. 'Goodnight, Artemis.' 'Goodnight, Victoria.'

 ***Ilion: The Ancient Greek name of Troy. I reckoned it would be more logical that the Gods don't translate the city names into English but just stuck with the names they knew and used. That's also why I typed Krete instead of Crete.**

 **I have written quite a lot, and I am proud to say that I've written a story that contained the sentence: 'Naturally,' he said and he dived gracefully into the wine. Just wanted to let you know.**


	6. The Final Judgement

**Hi! I'm a week and a day late, and I'm sorry for that, but I've been terribly busy. But good things come to those who wait. At least I hope it's good, since it's the last chapter. I really wanted to make it longer, but I didn't have anything more to write. Thank you all for reading my story, I really appreciate it. I won't be writing another fanfic anytime soon, but I have another fanfic that, if you like the knights of the round table and the movie Brave, you could check out.**

 **The first part of this chapter is not that important, but it might be fun if you've seen Disney's Hercules and Troy. If you haven't, I strongly recommend you watch those movies since they're both amazing. But if you don't want to watch them, you can scroll down and I'll mark the place where you can start reading again. And for one last time, enjoy!**

The only thing I liked about this house, was my bedroom, and that wasn't only because of my guitar. Every time I woke up, I felt like a princess. I was never the kind of girl who was into princesses, I never had dolls when I was younger, however I always liked the feeling of waking up in my big four-poster bed, bathing in light, and then opening the old window and enjoying the view. As if every moment some birds would turn op and sing a song with me. And today again, I enjoyed what I had always enjoyed.

Last night, I had a great idea. How funny would it be to visit an art museum and make them look at pictures of themselves? I proposed it at breakfast and everyone, except Achilles of course, who said we couldn't leave the house and that Zeus wouldn't agree, thought that it would be fun. 'Seven to one, Achilles. We're going,' said Ariadne. 'But we'll need to make sure you all look like proper humans, and I don't have enough clothes,' I said. 'We could make some clothes appear, but I have no idea what modern-day clothing looks like,' said Apollo. 'What if,' said Hebe, 'Victoria imagines the clothes and we let them appear?' 'Yeah, how exactly do you want to do that?' asked Dionysos. Hebe looked around, grabbed a big box full of junk and emptied it. 'Victoria,' she said. 'Place your hand on the lid and imagine enough clothes for us all, okay?' 'Sure,' I said and did what she had asked. I closed my eyes, she snapped her fingers and when I opened my eyes, the box was full of clothes. I handed them out, making sure everyone had enough of everything and knew what to do with it. Apollo, Artemis and Hebe made themselves shrink, and even though Herakles had his human form, Hebe made him shrink because he couldn't shrink by himself and his normal body type seemed rather inhuman. And after half an hour, seven normal-looking immortals were standing in front of me. 'One last problem; I don't have a car, and I don't know if you know what it looks like,' I said. 'Give me a photo and I'll create it,' said Dionysos. I searched some magazines for a picture of a car. After a short search, I found one, Dionysos made it appear and we started our little road trip.

After an hour of driving and singing along with songs we didn't really know, we arrived at the museum. I bought eight tickets and asked where the antiquity-themed paintings were. The man behind the desk explained, and we went to a big room full of paintings. I damned myself for forgetting something with which I would be able to film their reactions. 'Is that Athena? Why does she look like a twelve year old boy?' 'Oh, that's me!' said Artemis. 'And that filthy Actaeon. But why would I have a useless dog like that?' 'Darling, that's us!' said Ariadne. 'I look like I'm trying to dance and failing miserably,' laughed Dionysos. 'Hey, that's me, see Hebe?' said Herakles. 'That filthy centaur was stealing my wife. Shouldn't have saved that woman, though.' 'That's my successor, Ganymede! He looks nothing like him, though. Rather chubby,' said Hebe. We spent the following two hours criticizing the paintings, and then we decided it was time to go.

We went to the supermarket to get some food. It wasn't really necessary, but I wanted to buy some food that they didn't know. Even though they were very excited to visit a modern supermarket, I managed to keep them calm so nobody would suspect who they really were. After we had bought one cart full of mostly sweets and snacks, we went back home, because I had had another amazing idea.

'That was fun,' said Dionysos when we entered the house. 'You know what's even more fun than criticizing art?' I asked. 'Tell me,' said Dionysos. 'Criticizing movies.' 'I've heard of movies!' said Ariadne. 'But I don't really know what they are.' 'You'll see,' I said and grabbed my laptop to download the two movies I had in mind.

I went to my room and got the things that I hadn't seen in a long time: my three beanbags. Together with as many blankets and pillows as I could carry, I took them downstairs to the television room. I closed the curtains and created the cosiest place to watch films of all times. I returned to my laptop, and saw that the movies had been downloaded. 'Guys, grab a glass and as many bowls as you can carry. We're going to have the best movie night, well, afternoon actually, of our lives!'

A quarter of an hour later, everyone had settled on the beanbags and the couches in the television room, and bowls full of snacks and glasses full of soda were everywhere. 'Guys, may I present you one of the most amazing movies of all time: Disney's Hercules!' 'Hercules?' said Herakles. 'As in my Roman equivalent, Hercules?' 'Yes,' I said. 'It's about you.'

'Okay, we're going to play "Guess the God,' I said after the first song had played. 'Great! Bring it on,' I said. 'Athena and Poseidon!' said Hebe. 'Poseidon is so small, he's nearly adorable!' 'Since when is Hera my mom?' laughed Heracles. 'And since when is she happy to see you?' said Dionysos. 'And I was never that adorable! I always looked like this, just smaller!' 'Zeus looks quite truthful, though,' said Artemis. 'THAT'S ME!' she suddenly shouted. 'I should try out that hairdo!' 'I that Hephaistos next to Aphrodite? Or is it Ares? We should show Ares if it was, he'd lose his mind!' 'No way! Is that Hermes? Why is he so sassy and weird?' 'Is that me? That fat dude? That's offensive!' shouted Dionysos. 'Why do I look so yellow and ugly?' said Apollo. 'Okay, no, it's Hephaistos. But Poseidon saying "Ahw"? In all my years of being in heaven, I haven't heard that once!' 'Hades is not that evil! He isn't evil at all, actually.' 'Hades wanting me dead? What kind of bullshit is that?' 'My god, I look so weird! I'm a son of the Gods, damn it! Why would my feet and calves and hands be that disproportionate? And why do I act like such a little bitch?' 'Okay, I'm not going to lie, I like that Pegasus.' 'Jason, Cleopatra, Odysseus, Theseus, Achilles? That's before my time. Way before.' 'See, Achilles? You're history,' laughed Dionysos, and to my surprise he smiled. 'Okay, that muscular I look better, but I still look like a little bitch.' 'Nessos? I don't think so, I haven't seen Deianeira yet.' 'Honestly, who has a waistline like that? And what's with the eyebrows?' 'That's Roman numeration, stupid asses.' 'Where's the part that I murder my family and become Eurystheus' slave? This story is quite bad, but it's amusing, I must admit.' 'Oh, how tragic. It's like all those tragedy's I used to watch in my lifetime.' 'Okay, never mind. It's happy as can be.' 'That was fun,' said Artemis after the movie had ended. 'What's next?' 'A lovely movie about our other hero, called Troy,' I smiled.

'Oh god, is that Agamemnon? He looks exactly the same, just a little sweeter.' 'Achilles, you two look exactly the same! The only thing is that your eyes aren't blue like his.' 'And the real Achilles is handsomer,' I said. Everyone looked at me, and I tried to stop myself from turning red. 'It's just the truth,' I said and focussed on the movie. 'Where's Venus in this story? It's not like Helena fell in love by herself.' 'All of those actors look quite like their roles, I don't know how they've done that.' 'What? Cousin? Patroklos wasn't my cousin, and he certainly wasn't younger than I was. A bit older, actually.' 'If you weren't cousins, what were you?' I asked. 'Patroklos was my best friend,' said Achilles, and from the tone of his voice I stopped our conversation there. 'Why does my mother look so old? She's a goddess! And she didn't react that well when I told her that I was going to go to Troy.' 'They've completely left out Iphigeneia!' 'Cousin? Again? Briseïs wasn't their cousin, she was just a girl. A girl who was way prettier than that woman. Wait, priestess? Chryseis was a priestess, not Briseïs.' 'Why would I, of all people, offend a god like that? I had seen the Gods, I knew what they were capable of!' 'Oh, they just skipped ten years of that war. Why not, I guess. They also skipped the whole Chryseis part. Creative.' 'They captured Paris's cowardly personality perfectly!' 'What? Menelaos killed by Hektor? What bullshit is this?' 'Hektor killing Ajax too? So they must've let out the whole story about my death and the fight between Odysseus and Ajax! That's quite a big part!' 'Coins on the eyes of our dead? Who thought of that idea?'

And then came a scene that I had completely forgotten about. A conversation between Achilles and Briseïs, about how the Gods envied the mortals, because everything is prettier to mortals since they're doomed. The conversation sounded eerily like the conversation I had had with Achilles on the first night he was here. He seemed to have noticed the same, because he looked at me at the exact same moment I looked at him. We had eye-contact for quite a long time, but then he smiled faintly and focussed on the movie again.

'What? Me in Troy? They just left out the whole part that I died? How Paris's arrow killed me, with Apollo's guidance?' 'Oh, sorry about that, by the way,' said Apollo. 'Doesn't matter, brother. It wouldn't have mattered if I just could've stayed dead.' 'How amazing would it have been if Agamemnon was actually killed by Briseïs? But a way more appropriate death was outside of Troy. They've also ignored the fact that Helena returned to Greece with Menelaos.' 'Come on, I know I cared too much for that girl, but risking my life to save her from the burning city? They've exaggerated a little, here. And Paris was a big, stupid coward, he wouldn't have been able to shoot that arrow at my heel without some divine help! Good thing they didn't leave the heel part out, though.'

'Do you have another movie?' asked Ariadne. 'Nope,' I said. 'And I don't think it's time for another movie, it's time to have some dinner, it's half eight already!' We cooked dinner and talked about the movies a little more, and then decided to go outside and drink some beer, because we had drunk only wine for the past days. We sat down on the garden chairs which were standing in front of the summerhouse.

 **If you aren't interested in a part about those movies, you can start reading here :)**

'Two days ago, it was raining like a deluge was coming, and today it's been sunny all the time, and now the temperature is quite enjoyable,' said Achilles, shaking his head. 'That's how Great Britain works,' I said and we started laughing. Dionysos took a sip of his beer, and spat it out immediately. 'What is this?' he screamed. 'Beer,' I responded. 'It's horrible!' he said. He snapped his fingers, and the beer made place for some wine. 'I like it,' said Ariadne teasingly. 'Yeah, but you like Theseus as well so I don't care about your opinion,' said Dionysos. 'But I married you. Are you still saying that I have a bad taste in men?' 'Touché,' laughed Herakles and he drank some of his beer.

'I think it's getting rather cold,' said Hebe. 'I'm going back.' 'I'll go with you,' said Herakles, and the other gods nodded approvingly. 'Is anyone going to stay with me?' I asked. 'I'll stay,' said Achilles. I smiled, said goodbye to the others. 'There we are,' I said when the others were inside. 'The two of us again.'

'I wanted to apologize,' he said. 'I shouldn't have treated you like that.' 'Glad you realise that,' I said. 'And I also wanted to say that you might be right. About not being such a pussy.' I smiled. 'That's okay. I understand that you're not used to women being right.' 'What do you mean?' he asked. 'I've always treated women with respect.' 'For as far a Greek could treat a woman with respect.' To my surprise he started laughing. 'You're right, it was pretty bad back then. But living amongst the Gods taught me that the Goddesses are just as capable as the Gods. You don't want any of them against you.' 'You're right too,' I said after a long time. 'About what?' 'I never thought about how shitty it must be to be immortal. I'm not trying to make you jealous or something, but I'm really glad to be mortal.' 'I'm glad you appreciate what should be appreciated. You're a really special person, Victoria?' 'Oh?' 'Your wisdom, at such a young age. You possess more wisdom than I could ever dream of, even though I've lived for more than three thousand years, more than a hundred and fifty times as much as you.' 'With great grieve comes great wisdom,' I said. 'Apparently not,' said Achilles. 'Because you haven't defeated the grieve,' I said. 'Once you do that, you'll be as smart as Socrates, Aristotle and Plato combined.' 'Great,' he said. 'Then I'll try.' 'Don't try,' I said. 'Do.' 'How?' he asked. 'I don't know,' I said. 'Just ditch it.' 'That's possibly the least helpful advice I've ever had.' 'I understand, but it's that or living like a miserable piece of shit.' 'I guess I don't have too much of a choice then,' he said smiling. I shook my head. 'Well, I'll try then,' he said. I opened my mouth to object, but he was quicker. 'I'll do. I'll do that, then.' I smiled. 'That's what I wanted to hear.'

Time passed, and little changed. We had fun at home together, but we also went out often to tease other people. One time, we were at a cafe terrace, and Dionysos kept changing people's drinks into wine. It was hilarious to see them drinking and realising it was not what they had ordered. Some brought it back, others quickly drank everything, hoping they wouldn't get charged for a glass of wine. One time, he even changed a kid's apple juice into wine, and his mother freaked out because she thought it was her fault.

I had already lost track of time when we suddenly had a visit. It was evening, and the others had already gone to bed. I was downstairs, chatting with Artemis, when Hermes suddenly appeared right in front of us. 'Ah, Victoria, we meet at last,' he said. 'I am here to deliver a message from our king, the mighty Zeus. They have decided, and tomorrow they'll let you know their judgement.' 'What have they decided?' I asked eagerly. 'Sorry, can't tell. They'll do, tomorrow. See you then!' he said, and with a pop, he disappeared.

The moment I had been waiting for was here, but I wasn't happy with it. The last weeks, I had discovered a lost part of myself. Having fun with people I liked made me realise that it wasn't all that bad. I had hoped for a time when everything went well. And this was it. The only downside to it that it probably meant that I was going to die. 'It's going to be okay, I'm sure,' said Artemis. 'Yeah, I think so too,' I said, but I knew she was lying and she knew it too.

'I'm going to bed,' said Artemis. 'I think I'll stay here. Good night,' I said. When she was gone, I quickly opened another can of beer. But it didn't work. I couldn't get it out of my head. I went upstairs, hoping that I would be able to fall asleep. At the top of the stairs, I met Achilles. 'Still awake?' he asked. I nodded. 'Hermes dropped in. My judgement will be tomorrow.' Achilles smiled faintly. 'I'm sure you'll be fine.' I shook my head. 'I won't be fine. Of course I won't be fine! They'll kill me, we both know that.' 'Don't say that,' Achilles spoke softly. 'No, I-' To my own surprise, I started sobbing. He put his hand on my shoulder. 'Come on, don't cry,' said the hero. 'I know, I'm sorry,' I said. Achilles smiled at me, and I started crying like I hadn't in a long time. He embraced me tightly, stroking the back of my head with his head. 'Don't worry. They won't do you any harm, I promise.' We stood there for a long time, I didn't want him to let go. But after what seemed like hours, he did. He looked at me, wiped away my tears with his hand and smiled faintly. 'Don't worry,' he whispered, and then he returned to his room.

Surprisingly, I got enough sleep to not look like a complete zombie. I opened the window and gazed at the view. Today was going to be the last day of my life. My soul would remain in the Asphodel Meadows forever. So I'd better look good. I put on the dress that I had worn on the first night. I brushed my hair until it looked like it always should. I applied some make-up, but wiped off most of it because I was terrible at applying make-up.

'You look amazing,' said Apollo when I arrived downstairs. 'I'll only die once,' I said, smiling bravely. We had breakfast, but I couldn't eat anything. 'Everyone ready?' asked Hebe. I nodded and took a deep breath. Hebe grabbed my hand. 'Don't worry,' she said. I realised that I had started feeling like Hebe was the mother I never had. I took another deep breath, and just a second later, we were in Heaven.

'Ah, exactly in time. Welcome back,' said Zeus as soon as we arrived. The people with whom I had spent the past weeks bowed their heads, and I decided to do the same. 'Victoria, we have made up our minds. We have decided that there is no way you can live here, and no way you can live in the mortal world. Therefore, we shall have to kill you.'

The feeling I had next, was the weirdest I had ever had. It felt like everything had frozen, as if time had just disappeared. The last spark of hope I had tried to deny, was gone. My life was gone. And there was nothing I could do about it. I heard the some Gods and Goddesses gasping, I saw Hera and Ares smiling, but my brain didn't register anything. Until I felt that someone grabbed my hand, and the weird sensation of travelling between the worlds.

Before I could even see with whom I was travelling, or where I was going, I felt liquid around me. I thought I was going to drown, that they thought that dying unexpectedly would be better, but I felt that whoever was holding my ankle pulled me up. But instead of pulling me ashore, the person grabbed my other ankle, released the other one and submerged me again. I thought I was going to die, but suddenly I was able to fill my lungs with air again. I opened my eyes, and saw Achilles. 'What are you doing?' I half asked, half coughed. I looked at my reflection in the water, and saw that my make-up was everywhere and my hair looked awful. I also saw that we were at one of Styx's banks. 'Achilles...' 'You're immortal now,' he said. And without thinking, like an instinct I couldn't refrain, I kissed him. I kissed the immortal demigod, with all my passion, all my emotion, every feeling I had. And he kissed me back, that demigod. I didn't know if it was because of the emotion, since he had saved my life, or because we were now both immortal and kissing between immortals was different, it was indescribable. Even though I had never kissed a man before, I knew it would never feel like this. Nothing around me seemed to matter, it was just us, like we were morphing into one person.

We slowly stopped when we heard a pop next to us. I looked and saw Zeus standing next to us. He looked at me for a long time. 'Have you?' he then asked Achilles. 'I have,' he said. Zeus let out a long and deep roar. 'Fine,' he said then. I looked at Achilles, who, for the first time, smiled broadly and sincerely. He grabbed my hand, and together we travelled back to Heaven.

I was first greeted by two arms around my neck. 'Now we can finally be sisters!' the person squeaked. I opened my eyes and looked at the person who had hugged me. 'Nike!' I exclaimed when I saw her and I hugged her back. 'How good to see you!' 'The girl is now immortal,' said Zeus, overwhelming everyone's murmuring. 'She shall remain here forever.'

Artemis hugged me as well. 'Welcome home,' said Hebe when she saw me. 'Thank you,' I said and hugged her. I looked at Achilles, who couldn't stop smiling. 'Let's go home,' he said softly.

Achilles's house was beautiful, just like Nike's, but I didn't notice that. 'Why the fuck did you do that?' I shouted as soon as we got home. All the happiness I had felt after I was made immortal was gone. 'What?' 'You knew that I would hate to be immortal! Why, for god's sake, did you make immortal?' 'I saved your life, Victoria! Why are you so ungrateful?' 'Because you knew I'd rather die than live an immortal life! You knew! Why did you do this?' 'I'm greedy, okay? I'm greedy and selfish. And I like you, and I didn't like to see you as upset as you were yesterday. I didn't want to be doomed for all eternity by myself, so I got you to join me. I liked your company, and I wanted you to be with me forever.' 'You sound like a little child,' I said. 'Ever met a 3000 year old child?' he asked grinning. 'Do you think this is funny? Do you think this is a game of some sort? It's my life, cockface! Or at least was, since you took it from me,' I screamed. 'Actually I saved it, so calm down,' he responded. 'I won't calm down! Give me one good reason to calm down!' 'Victoria, you know I think eternal life sucks, and with you, I thought, it would be less suckier.' I sighed. 'That still doesn't make it right,' I said, even though I thought it was rather sweet coming from him. 'Well, if you don't want to be immortal, there's no way back, so good luck spending eternity like a rotten piece of embittered shit.' 'I fucking hate you, Achilles,' I snarled. 'And I you,' he said smirking. I didn't want to forgive him, I really didn't, but as he came closer and kissed me once more, I knew I couldn't be mad at him forever. He was right, if I stayed mad I would end up like him, and I didn't want that. And as he stroked my hair, I realised that I was immortal, and I decided to make the best out of it. And therefore, I did.


End file.
